Advances in developmental biology result in progress in the fields of congenital disease, oncology, and regenerative medicine. Thanks to the sudden increase in genomic information in model organisms, the research output in developmental biology has expanded dramatically, so much so that it is hard for scientists to stay informed across the breadth of the subject area. The Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting is one mechanism to address this problem. The specific aims of the meeting are to educate developmental biologists about the major advances in the field in the last two years through the dissemination and discussion of current data, and to facilitate scientific networking among developmental biologists at all stages of their careers. To do this the investigators aim to bring together a diverse group of scientists who use genomic, genetic, biochemical, molecular, and cellular approaches to study the most important aspects of development across the full range of model systems. [unreadable] [unreadable] The 2008 Santa Cruz Meeting (June 26th-30th) is organized around a single theme: "Transitions in Development", the emphasis being on the concepts of the unity of developmental biology among different organisms, and of how advances in one model organism can impact other areas in developmental biology and disease. The meeting will comprise eight sessions, each chaired by a recognized leader in the subject area of that session. One session will be devoted to two workshops, "The Postdoc to PI Transition" and "The Lecture to Problem-based learning Transition". The aim is to educate participants, share ideas and experiences, and promote networking among established and new scientists. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]